Floyd Mayweather Jr. did something this past Saturday against Marcos Maidana that boxing fans and observers haven't seen him do in many years-struggle. Maidana used bully tactics to roughhouse Mayweather against the ropes and unleashed a bevy of punches from all angles at all times on the pound-for-pound king.
While Floyd still beat Maidana, and avoided the vast majority of his overhand rights while connecting on well over half the power shots he threw, the 37-year-old champ looked ever-so-slightly diminished from the form he showed against Canelo Alvarez in September 2013.
Now, while a rematch with Maidana seems fairly obvious, his next opponent is far from settled. Throughout his illustrious career Mayweather has only fought one man twice, Jose Luis Castillo in 2002. Maidana's power proved to be an exciting factor in this fight, and despite Amir Khan's cries that his quick-handed is best suited to defeat Floyd, power wins out for fans.
Enter 25-year-old Keith "One-Time" Thurman. He is a knockout artist in every sense of the word at 23-0-0 with 21 knockouts, is advised by Al Haymon (as is Mayweather), fights on Showtime and has several impressive wins on his resume.